‘At breaking point’: disability community’s anger over cuts
“We’re tired of fighting” – That was the clear message from Nelson’s disability community at a public meeting to discuss disability funding cuts.
Almost 100 people, the majority women, met with Nelson Labour MP Rachel Boyack and Labour’s disability spokesperson Priyanca Radhakrishnan at Greenmeadows Pūtangitangi Centre on Monday afternoon.
Previously, funding from Whaikaha the Ministry for Disabled People funding gave families a two-year budget set by the ministry to help disabled people live full lives. Their whānau could spend that money on equipment, such as wheelchairs, or on respite care.
Without warning on March 18, the ministry announced immediate changes to its purchasing rules “to clarify how people can use their disability support funding”.
The ministry said the changes were due to financial pressures on government departments.
Boyack said she had been contacted by Nelson residents who were “upset, angry, frustrated and confused”.
Radhakrishnan, the minister for disability issues under Labour, said she had fielded around 200 “devastated” messages from disabled people and their carers, worried about meeting costs for respite care, travel and insulin pumps.
“People are tired of fighting for every little aspect of support; they feel they’re now at breaking point,” she said.
One woman, visiting Nelson from Palmerston North with her son, said the funding had meant her whānau had started to “taste freedom from oppression”.
“We will not fit back in that box; we can’t go back,” she said. “Every single rule takes us further and further away... taking us back towards institutionalisation.”
She suggested parents of children with disabilities take their children to Parliament. “Give them a taste of what day-to-day is like.”
One mother of a teen said she had discovered the news on Facebook.
“There was no formal letter to say your carer support is changing ... There must be families out there who have no idea this has happened.”
Radhakrishnan’s suggestion of writing to your MP to protest the change was met with opposition from one parent.
“We’re tired of fighting,” she said. “We have been fighting all our lives, every step of the way. It’s not fair.”
The threat hanging over Maitai School was also raised by Boyack and several parents. On April 4, the Government announced plans to build a new base for the special educational facility were in doubt, which would leave a quarter of the school’s students with nowhere to go next year.
“I don’t know what we’re going to do,” said one parent, whose son had flourished at the school.